Ocean Circulation and Climate: A 21st Century Perspective

The book represents all the knowledge we currently have on ocean circulation. It presents an up-to-date summary of the state of the science relating to the role of the oceans in the physical climate system.

The book is structured to guide the reader through the wide range of world ocean circulation experiment (WOCE) science in a consistent way. Cross-references between contributors have been added, and the book has a comprehensive index and unified reference list.

The book is simple to read, at the undergraduate level. It was written by the best scientists in the world who have collaborated to carry out years of experiments to better understand ocean circulation.

Presents in situ and remote observations with worldwide coverageProvides theoretical understanding of processes within the ocean and at its boundaries to other Earth System componentsAllows for simulating ocean and climate processes in the past, present and future using a hierarchy of physical-biogeochemical models

Part I: The oceans’ role in the climate system
1 The ocean as a component of the climate system
2 Paleoclimatic ocean circulation and sea level changes
Part II: Ocean observations
3 In-situ ocean observations: A brief history, present status and future directions
4 Remote sensing of the global ocean circulation
Part III: Ocean processes
5 Exchanges through the ocean surface
6 Thermodynamics of seawater
7 Diapycnal mixing processes in the ocean interior
8 Lateral transport in the ocean interior
9 Global distribution and formation of mode waters
10 Deep water formation
Part IV: Ocean circulation and water masses
11 Conceptual models of the wind-driven and thermohaline circulation
12 Ocean surface circulation
13 Western boundary currents
14 Currents and processes along the eastern boundaries
15 The tropical ocean circulation and dynamics
16 The marine cryosphere
17 The Arctic and subarctic oceans/seas
18 Dynamics of the Southern Ocean circulation
19 Inter-ocean and inter-basin exchanges
Part V: Modeling the ocean climate system
20 Ocean circulation models and modeling
21 Dynamically and kinematically consistent global ocean circulation and ice state estimates
22 Methods and applications of ocean synthesis in climate research
23 Coupled models and climate projections
24 The oceans’ role in modeling and predicting seasonal-to-interannual climate variations
25 The oceans’ role in modeling and predicting decadal climate variations
26 Modeling ocean biogeochemical processes and resulting tracer distributions
Part VI: The changing ocean
27 Sea-level and ocean heat-content change
28 Long-term salinity changes and implications for the global water cycle
29 Ocean heat transport
30 The marine carbon cycle and ocean carbon inventories
31 Marine ecosystems, biogeochemistry, and climate